Many labelled packages and/or containers are subjected, after removal of their contents, to cleaning (or recycling) treatments either for the purpose of reusing them or, after destruction, for the purpose of recovering their constituent material. Such treatments often require the label to be completely separated from the article to which it is fastened, without leaving adhesive residues on the surface of said article, so as to make the recycling process easier.
These recycling processes, such as the one used for cleaning spent glass bottles, generally include a step of immersing the article to be cleaned in basic aqueous compositions maintained at temperatures between 60 and 100° C. The purpose of such a step is also the debonding of the label fastened to the article and its separation therefrom.